Case Fans 2013 - Who beats Cougar Vortex and Gentle Typhoon?

R

Really

n00b
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
62
Hi,

Last I researched, the Cougar Vortex was quite good.
And the Gentle Typhoon was the old standard,

Which case fans beat the Cougar Vortex?
Obviously there's some loud heavy duty ones that will move more air, but...

Which case fans can beat the Cougar Vortex / Gentle Typhoon *at their noise level* ?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Scythe Slipstreams are excellent fans for intakes/exhaust. They move a ton of air but have poor static pressure, so don't count on them to push air through densely packed fins on a radiator or heatsink, but in open air, they are very good performers.
 
I dug around and found the Cougar Vortex CF-V12HP/V12HPB on sale on Newegg :eek:

Picked up a few. I'm a price for performance kinda guy. Thanks hardocp :)
 
It highly depends on what you will be using the fan for. Gentle Typhoons are really the best radiator/thick heatsink fans, but not so much when it comes to open air or heatsinks with fins spaced far apart.
 
Depends on not only where the fans are going, but the owners tolerance for noise.

My rig used to sit next to a Window AC so noise wasn't an issue, and I was heavily into overclocking and benchmarking so performance came first. I ran 38mm delta fans on fan controllers that I could kick up to ~140cfms with tons of static pressure. Very loud at full tilt though...but not nearly as bad as the Vantec Tornados we ran back in the day lol.

Now, I want it a bit quieter and run my PC 24/7 so I have some surplus Globe server fans, they push 80cfm@34db so IMO are quiet enough to run full speed without a controller. They are very expensive new, $18-20, but you can get them as takeoffs for around 2 bucks a pop which is hard to beat for long life 80cfm 120's with decent static pressure. They have no problems blowing strong through my thick gen2 GTX480s.
 
Here's my notes, compiled from what people have said,
Please feel free to tear these notes to shreds!

Cougar Vortex:
  • At low RPM, the Cougars have a less tonal noise than Gentle Typhoons, while moving more air.
  • Cougars are near silent when mounted vertically.
  • Cougars produce some whine when mounted horizontally.
  • Horizontal mounting of Cougars may be acceptable when blowing air downwards.
  • Horizontal mounting of Cougars is worse when blowing air upwards, as they can make a clicking sound. (bottom intake / top exhaust)
  • Cougars run quieter with Voltage control than PWM, which produces some PWM whine.
  • Cougars still work good for PWM controlled air cooling.
  • Cougars are available in 140mm, while Typhoons are not.
Gentle Typhoon:
  • Beats almost everything for quiet cooling.
  • AP-15 = PWM control
  • AP-45 = Voltage control only
  • If you have a Fan controller or your board can control voltage, go with AP-45.
  • AP-45 is same as AP-15 with more RPM headroom.
  • AP-45 is cheaper than AP-15.
  • While the AP-45 has higher RPM and static pressure, it consumes more power than AP-15. So you cannot put as many AP-45 on one channel of a Fan controller.
  • Typhoons can be noticeably quieter if you use rubber gaskets and washers to suppress vibration. The Typhoon vibration noise can be accented by radiator fins, but almost vanishes when you decouple it.
  • When in doubt, get the AP-15. Static pressure and CFM will rise as the fan spins faster.
 
Last edited:
I bought a cougar vortex that was supposed to outclass my AP15 once. I was disappointed. The AP15 lead was even more apparent when a dust filter was applied.
 
FaRKle0079 said:
I bought a cougar vortex that was supposed to outclass my AP15 once. I was disappointed. The AP15 lead was even more apparent when a dust filter was applied.
Click to expand...

I think this is because people say the Typhoon leads in static pressure.
Which matters with radiators, cause they restrict airflow.

I haven't worked out the whole "Cougars actually move more air at low RPM, but the Typhoons have better static pressure" thing.
Would be nice to see a shootout of these fans working with restricted flow, and with non-restricted flow.

I only said the Cougar can be better in my original post, because the topic was about Case Fans, not Radiator Fans.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top